Midday Roundup: White House warns humans are destroying the planet

It’s all our fault. The White House issued a report on global warming today that blames burning fossil fuel for an increase in severe weather events like storms and droughts. One of the reports’ authors is Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian who has gotten a lot of attention for her attempts to increase acceptance for climate change theories in churches. The 1,100-page report, prepared by hundreds of scientists, says humans are unequivocally to blame for global warming. “Climate change is here and now, and not in some distant time or place,” Hayhoe said. “The choices we’re making today will have a significant impact on our future.”

More abductions. Villagers in northern Nigeria say Boko Haram militants have abducted eight more girls from their homes in a nighttime raid. Residents from Warabe told Reuters armed men went house to house and took girls between 12 and 15 years old. The latest abduction comes amid an increasingly vocal international protest of the group’s mass abduction of several hundred schoolgirls three weeks ago. The United Nations human rights commission has urged Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to do everything he can to secure the girls’release. Boko Haram’s leader has threatened more abductions.

Holocaust deniers? A Los Angeles-area school district is scrambling to fix a public relations nightmare after teachers assigned eighth graders to write an essay arguing the Holocaust never happened. Officials with the Rialto Unified School District said the assignment was designed to teach critical thinking skills required under the new Common Core standards. The assignment earned widespread criticism, including from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. But the Anti-Defamation League said it found no evidence of a “larger, insidious agenda.”The assignment was just a “misguided”mistake, the group said. School district officials agreed and promised teachers would find another controversial topic for their students to write about in the future.

Blue dress redux. Monica Lewinsky is making headlines again. This time it’s for her tell-all article in Vanity Fair about the affair that rocked the world almost 20 years ago. Lewinsky was an intern in 1995 when she began what she described as a consensual relationship with then-President Bill Clinton. She’s breaking her silence about the sordid episode that lead to the president’s impeachment because she wants to offer solace to other people going through “their darkest moments of humiliation.”In the article, Lewinsky, now 40, says she deeply regrets her actions. She also blames the Clinton political machine for branding her with a notoriety that has made it almost impossible to find a job, despite her master’s degree in social psychology. Of course, she was looking for a job in communications, which might not be the best field, all things considered.